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Another only-in-the-WNBA moment appeared to occur on Tuesday.
The Portland Fire, one of the two expansion franchises set to debut in 2026, shared on LinkedIn that Alex Sarama had been hired as the team’s head coach. And then the post was quickly deleted.
Front Office Sports’ Annie Costabile has confirmed that the Fire do, in fact, intend to formally announce the hiring of Sarama in the coming days. She notes that the contract details are still being finalized. That Sarama emerged as Portland’s head coach choice is not a surprise, as The Stein Line’s Jake Fischer recently cited the rather anonymous player development specialist as a strong contender for the Fire job.
A native of England, Sarama does have connections to Portland, having served as an assistant coach and director of player development for the Blazers’ G League affiliate, the Rip City Remix. He also has familiarity with Fire general manager Vanja Černivec. Hired away from the Golden State Valkyries, where she was the vice president of basketball operations, Černivec previously worked as the general manager of the British Basketball League’s London Lions, where Sarama was the club’s director of methodology from 2023 to 2024.
Most recently, Sarama was an assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers, gaining the NBA experience now valued by WNBA teams.
The Sarama social media snafu follows the leaking of the Fire trademark filing in early June, which revealed the team name before the official announcement. The league’s other 2026 expansion team, the Toronto Tempo, also had their name unintentionally leaked through a WNBA website mistake.
Those minor peccadilloes shouldn’t distract from the more significant stakes of the all-but-official Sarama hiring, as it aligns with what The IX Sports’ Jackie Powell called the “gentrification” of WNBA head coaching, where experience coaching men, particularly in the NBA, appears to have become the most valuable prerequisite for candidates. This qualification, in turn, has advantaged primarily white men, lacking extensive, or any, experience coaching in women’s basketball, over candidates of other backgrounds, particularly younger women of color.
Whether true or not, the botched announcement of the Sarama hiring makes it appear that the organization, anticipating potential fan frustration with the hire, had hoped to cushion any criticisms.
Another, officially-announced Fire hire, however, does indicate the organization’s awareness of the importance of compiling a diverse staff featuring individuals of all backgrounds. Ashley Battle, named the team’s vice president of basketball operations, strategy and innovation, certainly qualifies. A three-time national champion at UConn, Battle played six seasons in the WNBA and has since remained around the game. Most familiar to WNBA fans as a color commentator for the Connecticut Sun for the past three seasons, Battle also has worked in the Boston Celtics organization, including serving as the general manager of the Maine Celtics, their G League affiliate.
Battle, like head coaching candidates Lindsey Harding and Kristi Toliver, as well as current WNBA head coaches Becky Hammon of the Las Vegas Aces and Natalie Nakase of the Valkyries, blends experiences in women’s and men’s pro basketball, blurring the ability to neatly categorize candidates for leadership jobs in the WNBA as representative of a singular, simplified archetype.
Still, it’s understandable that fans and analysts with a long appreciation of the WNBA want to see more people who look like Battle receive strong, unqualified consideration for high-ranking coaching and/or front office jobs, not just those whose candidacies appear to be elevated by the perceived credibility that comes with NBA experience.
